Wrong Number Text
by L.M. Avalon
Summary: Kagome receives a wrong number text from a stranger, so what does she do? Respond, of course. AU. InuKag. MirSan.
1. Part 1

Hellooo there. This is probably going to be a very short story, only a few chapters at most, along the lines of my fic, _FML_. Like _FML_, this was inspired by a website. :] In this case, _Wrong Number Texts_, a new offshoot of _Damn You Auto Correct_!

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_, _FML_, _Wrong Number Texts_, or _Damn You Auto Correct_.

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Wrong Number Text

Part 1

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_She's driving me crazy. I need to break up with her before I end up killing something._  
_- I._

For whatever reason, Kagome couldn't pry her eyes off the message on her cell phone's screen. The phone number was not one programmed into her address book, so it was obviously an accident that she'd received it. Would he text again if he didn't receive a response? What was his girlfriend doing that was so bad? He sounded like he had an anger management problem…

Then again, "I." could be a _she_.

Feeling a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, Kagome chided herself silently for automatically assuming it was a boy talking about his girlfriend. She'd been raised more open-minded than that. Or at least, she strived to be. But anyway—

"Kagome…" she heard someone breathe, very quietly, from the desk next to hers. "_Kagome_," the voice repeated, more urgently a few seconds later when she failed to look over.

Kagome lifted her eyes— wide blue ones rimmed with thick lashes and no makeup— to her left, seeing her best friend Sango urgently flicking her own eyes back and forth between Kagome and something at the front of the classroom. Finally, Kagome followed Sango's line of sight and saw their teacher at the front of the room watching them both with a stern expression on his face, his mouth set in a tight, thin line.

Oh, yeah, no cell phones were allowed in school.

Quickly, Kagome shrugged innocently at her teacher and slipped her phone back into the pocket of her uniform's blazer. Technically, she'd looked at the text message when it had buzzed _before_ class had started. She must had been reading and rereading it for long enough that it had crossed the line of "between classes" to "class has started, all cell phones MUST be put away."

Once her lessons had ended for the day, she anxiously took the phone back out and sat at her desk, not bothering to gather her things yet. Around her was a flurry of movement as her classmates packed up their bags, loud conversations over her head about what everyone was doing that night, how difficult the homework would be, and did you see that new movie that came out over the weekend?

"What's it say?" Sango asked from behind her, peering over Kagome's shoulder with intense brown eyes. After she'd read it, Sango scoffed good-naturedly. "Sounds like a train wreck. Who sent it?"

"Dunno," Kagome explained. "It's a wrong number text. Think I should tell them that?" As Sango pondered her question, Kagome slipped her arms into the blazer hanging off the back of her chair and started to put all her notebooks and papers into her backpack. Once it was zipped shut, she stood up and stretched her arms over her head, reaching for the ceiling and arching her back, stiff from sitting for hours.

"You could just respond with something real quick. It should come up as an unknown number on his phone, and he'll get that it's a wrong number. I don't even understand how people do that anymore. Doesn't everyone preprogram all their numbers these days?"

"It's a new phone," Kagome reminded her, shaking said phone in her best friend's face. "Well, to me anyway. I bought it used downtown last week. I wiped the address book clean. Maybe he's trying to text the previous owner?"

"Probably," Sango agreed. "Yeah, that's it. Text back."

The two girls swung their backpacks over their shoulders and trudged out the doorway, heading toward the stairs that would take them to the courtyard in front of their high school. Within a few minutes, they were on the sidewalk, walking home amiably, catching up on family drama.

"And then he fell on his butt at the bottom of the stairs," Sango was saying, chuckling. "Kohaku looked like he couldn't decide between laughing and crying!"

Kagome was having the same problem, giggling so hard that a tear trickled from the corner of her eye. "Your brother should know better than to try to rollerblade in the house," Kagome pointed out with a loud guffaw. "Sometimes I forget he's the smart one when compared to _my _brother."

"Souta's not that dumb," Sango defended the younger Higurashi but had trouble keeping a straight face. "Okay, he's a little bad. But what do you expect? They're in middle school. They're supposed to do stupid things."

"Speaking of stupid, what should I text back?"

For several minutes, they argued back and forth, trying to decide on something polite that was somewhere between "Dude, wrong number" and "Hey, maybe it's _your_ fault that you're having girlfriend problems."

_Sorry to tell you, but wrong number. Good luck with your girlfriend issues_.  
_- K._

Hitting send, Kagome smiled at Sango. "That oughta do it," she said happily, tucking her hair behind her ears. "But honestly, I kind of wanted to know more."

"You're so nosy," Sango pointed out, coming to a standstill at the foot of her driveway. Kagome walked a bit further before swinging around, continuing to walk backwards away from her friend with her hands clasped behind her back and a wide, mischievous smile stretching her face.

"Eh," she said noncommittally, knowing that she was a bit of a busybody. Kagome blamed her mother, a sweet woman who could weasel anything out of anyone with just a kind smile, even strangers who visited the shrine her family ran just up the street. "See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, see you," Sango said with a wide smile. "Don't go texting any more strangers."

Kagome winked and turned around, heading toward the massive set of stairs in the distance that led uphill to the shine and her family home. "I can't promise anything!" she shouted over her shoulder. "You know me, always up for an adventure!"


	2. Part 2

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha _or the website _Wrong Number Texts_.

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Wrong Number Text

Part 2

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_Dude, shut up. You're such a liar.  
__- I._

Kagome had rolled over in the middle of the night to find that message lighting up her screen. She'd blinked at it blearily before checking the alarm clock sitting next to it on her nightstand. The red letters clearly read _3:46 A.M. _

Groaning, she pulled her arm back under her warm covers and held the phone close to her nose, selecting _Respond_ and quickly typing something up.

_Dude, I'm not a dude. Or a liar. This phone's got a new owner._  
_- K._

Before she could set it back on her nightstand, it vibrated in her hand. In the silence, she could hear the _buzz_ loud in her ears, sure that it would wake the whole house.

_Seriously?_  
_- I._

_..._

_Seriously._  
_- K._

_..._

_Since when?_  
_- I._

_..._

_Nine days ago._  
_- K._

_..._

_Shit. Seriously?_  
_- I._

_..._

_Seriously. Go to sleep. It's almost 4am._  
_- K._

_..._

_I'm not going to say sorry._  
_- I._

_..._

_Stop being an ass, and you won't have to._  
_- K._

Before she could see if he'd respond to that, Kagome buried the phone under a pile of clothes on the floor next to her bed, hoping to muffle the sound of any incoming messages, and rolled back over. Just in case, she pulled her second pillow over the top of her head, then yanked the covers up over that. Within a few minutes, she was sound asleep again.

In the morning, late as always, Kagome stumbled around her room, brushing her teeth with one hand and yanking on her shoes with the other. As soon as her second shoe was on, she dug into the clothes pile to find her phone. When she felt the smooth plastic, she wrapped her fingers around it and shoved it into her backpack, hoping there was enough battery life to get her through the day. Tossing her toothbrush in the sink, she tore down the stairs two steps at a time and flew out the front door.

"Have a good day," she yelled as loudly as she could, hoping her family heard her. Across the yard, under the big tree, down the wide-stepped staircase that led to the street, and Kagome nearly slammed into Sango at the bottom.

"Good… morning," she huffed, placing a hand to her chest as if that would be enough to calm her racing pulse.

"Morning," Sango responded, holding out a quickly-cooling waffle wrapped in a paper towel and leading the way to school. "Get a response from your mystery texter?"

Kagome groaned around the waffle hanging out of her mouth and shuffled through her backpack until she found her phone. She shoved it at Sango and kept walking, chewing fast. Sango scrolled through the history of the messages, her eyebrows rising to her hairline, a smile teasing her face.

"He sounds like a winner," she said finally, handing the phone back to her friend.

"A winner in an irritability contest," Kagome snapped back ungratefully. "He made me miss sleep so I was tired so I had trouble waking up so now we're late." She tried not to be offended when Sango started howling with laughter.

"You're always late," Sango pointed out, slinging an arm around the other girl's shoulders and squeezing affectionately. "When was the last time we made it to class on time?"

The blue-eyed girl shrugged stubbornly and pursed her lips. "Not this late."

"Yes, this late."

"Shut up," she grumbled, but her heart wasn't in it. "Oh, hey, was he the last one to send something? I didn't check this morning."

"Uh, yeah," the brunette said, tugging on the end of her long ponytail as if it would help her remember what the text said word-for-word. "Something about how you're a bitch, just like his girlfriend."

Kagome snorted, feeling offended even though she knew, logically, that she had no reason to be. What did she care about some crazy stranger? Except, you know, maybe he was really her soul mate. Like as if she were in some romantic comedy where Fate led two unsuspecting but wildly-attractive people together, meant to be, meant to ride off into the sunset…

Sango started howling with laughter again.


	3. Part 3

Come on, y'all, you know who "I." is, right? :] Okay, still not planning on making this drabble-fic too long. Is there anything anyone would like to see?

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_ or the website _Wrong Number Text_.

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Wrong Number Text

Part 3

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_Do you know what happened to the prev. owner of your phone?  
__-I._

_..._

_No.  
__-K. _

"Please tell me I'm not the only one who finds it so hard to focus in class when it's this beautiful out?" Kagome groaned, stretching her legs out in front of her and leaning back onto her palms, face turned to the sun. It heated her face evenly, almost too hot on her eyelids.

Sango had chosen to sit in the shade of a tree, primly eating from the box sitting in her lap. "Of course not," Sango said around the chopsticks sticking out of her mouth. "We both know you're behind on homework today, because you've been obsessing over those text messages, not sitting out in the sunshine. Even now, you're just waiting to see if he'll respond."

Kagome tossed her hair over her shoulder with a huff, but her cheeks were pinker than a moment before. "I've barely texted him anything."

"Maybe not, but you've been imagining nonstop all these wild scenarios where he comes and sweeps you off your feet. You don't even know for a fact that it _is_ a he."

Instantly, Kagome shooed away thoughts of a gallivant, handsome man (who was much sweeter in person than over text messages) riding into her classroom on a white stallion (the room was suddenly much bigger, able to accommodate this), a cheeseburger in one hand and a bouquet of cherry blossoms in the other. Big, blue eyes and perfectly-styled blond hair. "That's such a lie, I never get ahead of myself."

"You always get ahead of yourself. Like, every day. Really, Kagome. You were already planning your wedding to Hojo last year before you realized that you didn't even like him that much after your second date. Then you were so busy imagining the best way to break up with him that you didn't realize that he moved on from you on his own and was dating one of your airhead friends—the sweet one, not one of the two loud ones."

Kagome stuck her tongue out at Sango. "You never know. He could go to this school. He could be an upperclassman, like us."

"Or, he could be a twelve year old."

"With a mouth like a sailor?" Kagome shot back, but her stomach was churning.

"He could also be in his forties," Sango pointed out, patiently and logically. Kagome could be loud, passionate, and rash while Sango kept a much cooler head. Obviously.

"You don't know that," Kagome retorted, but now she was worried, trying to decide which would be worse: a little boy or an old man?

"And you don't know this could lead to true love or an adventure." The brunette started to pack up her lunch, glancing at Kagome's untouched box. As if on cue, the other girl's phone vibrated, dancing across the grass. Kagome snatched it up, her fingers flying over the buttons as Sango watched, torn between being amused and worried about her best friend.

_You're no help.  
__- I._

_..._

_Sorry. How old are you?  
__- K._

_..._

_How do I know you're not a sexual predator? Who KILLED my friend, the prev. owner of that phone?  
__- I._

_..._

_Don't be dramatic. I'm a girl in high school.  
__- K._

_..._

_How do you know *I'm* not a sexual predator?  
__- I._

_..._

_Are you?  
__- K._

_..._

_No.  
__- I._

_..._

_Well, there you go. How old are you?  
__- K._

_..._

_You realize these are texts, right? I could, I don't know, LIE.  
__- I._

"He's right, Kagome," Sango said, leaning over Kagome's shoulder.

Kagome jerked, having not realized Sango had gotten that close. She curled a hand over the screen of her phone to hide the messages from her friend, feeling protective now that Sango had spent so much time poking holes in her fantasies. "I think this right here is proof that he's, I don't know, _awesome_?"

"Kagome, I think you need to stop texting strangers and focus on schoolwork. We have exams coming up. If you're really that desperate for a boyfriend, I'm pretty sure Kouga's been asking about you. You know, Kouga, the hot track star?"

"He's cute," Kagome admitted, "but he's kind of… uh, too enthusiastic. Plus Ayame— the redhead in my math class—she's really into Kouga. And I'm ninety-nine percent certain she could take me in a fight."

"Kagome, I think _Souta_ could take you in a fight. Now come on, that was the bell. Turn your phone off, it's almost out of battery anyway, and give it some serious thought. Do you really want to push this?"

Yes. "I'll think about it," the blue-eyed girl said instead, turning her phone off and slipping it into her bag. She hefted it back onto her shoulder, following Sango down the hill toward the building in the distance, already entertaining new thoughts about the person behind the text messages. Whether she was making all this up or not, any fantasy world had to be better than this boring one she lived in— one of textbooks and homework, sitting for hours and doing chores at home. The only part of the day she didn't hate was history class, learning about the Feudal Era and mythology. If only that world still existed.


	4. Part 4

Sorry if the long streams of text messages get hard to sort out. Please let me know if that's a problem. I understand from experience how annoying it can get to read a story that has a ton of IMs or texts in it that you have to decipher. Also, believe it or not, Sango remains my favorite character; I sort of feel bad for picking on her all the time.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha _or the website _Wrong Number Text_.

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Wrong Number Text

Part 4

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_I think you have a texting problem.  
__- I._

Kagome snorted, her fingers already dancing across the keys with a response before she realized what she was doing and had to actually will herself to stop. Deliberately, she locked the touch screen and slipped her phone into her pocket.

Sango glanced up from where she sat at Kagome's desk, an open textbook in her lap. "Does that mean you're done?"

"Do you realize how weird it is that you don't own a cell phone?" Kagome asked instead, folding her hands together to keep them from reaching for the phone. Just in case, she weaved her fingers together.

"My family has a house phone; that's enough for us."

"It's just _really _weird."

"I was actually thinking about getting one next week. Anyway, is your little friend being mean again?" Sango responded, shutting her textbook so she could level her serious, brown eyes on her best friend. For her part, Kagome started to squirm under her scrutiny, unlocking her fingers to pick at a loose thread on her bedspread. "Is that why you're finally paying attention after I've been here for two hours?"

Kagome ran her other hand through her hair, having the courtesy to blush in shame. "You've been busy. Doing _homework_. And fine, I'll admit it, I just really want to know who this guy is. I mean, come on, there's got to be some grand meaning in getting a text from him in the first place, right?"

"People get wrong number texts all the time," Sango pointed out practically. "There's even a website devoted to it. Probably more than one."

"You're just bitter, because you're in unrequited love." Thankfully, Kagome's voice was teasing and light-hearted. Sango could very easily kick her butt; probably with both arms tied behind her back. "I see the way you look at that boy in the antique shop. You even bought one of those cheap little trinkets he was peddling, even though it was obviously more fake than the things my grandfather sells here. You even _blushed_. I saw it. You know, kind of like you're doing now." She ducked as Sango lugged a pencil at her head, missing her ear by only a few inches.

"He's charming!" Sango defended, that steady voice of hers higher-pitched than it should have been.

"He's a total perv; I bet he'd grab your ass the first chance he got— that hand of his got awfully close a couple of times."

"I'd hit him," the brunette vowed venomously, bristling at the thought.

Kagome started laughing, secretly delighting in the fact that the scrutiny was off her and her text addiction and onto Sango's attraction to the boy who worked downtown. Kagome could picture him clearly: tall, thin, his just-a-smidge-too-long black hair pulled back in a casual ponytail, his dancing, laughing eyes so dark they bordered on violet-colored. He was obviously older than the girls, but probably only by one or two years. It was hard to tell with his youthful face. While Sango had run inside, originally to buy a necklace displayed in the dusty window, Kagome had stayed on the sidewalk watching her best friend talk with the boy behind the counter. Within a minute, the brunette was trying to stifle a smile. Within two minutes, the brunette was actually laughing. Or, dare Kagome believe it, Sango had been _giggling_.

Later that night, after Sango had gotten tired of Kagome's teasing and the blue-eyed girl was again alone in her room, she finally pulled out her phone.

_I have a curiosity problem, not a texting one.  
__- K._

_..._

_I noticed.  
__- I._

_..._

_Are you in high school?  
__- K._

_..._

_No.  
__- I._

_..._

_College?  
__- K._

_..._

_No.  
__- I._

_..._

_An old folk's home?  
__- K._

_..._

_You got me. I'm a senile old fart.  
__- I._

_..._

_It would explain the attitude problem. Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!  
__- K._

And with that, Kagome shut down her phone and plugged it into the wall to charge, contemplating where she wanted to go with this. Maybe Sango was right. Maybe she should focus on the here-and-now. There was plenty of time for a romance later, probably with a much better conversationalist.


	5. Part 5

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha _or the website _Wrong Number Text_.

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Wrong Number Text

Part 5

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Kagome was literally twiddling her thumbs. For once, all of her assignments and essays were complete, she felt confident about the math test she'd have to take the next day, and she had _nothing to do_. Sango was on some family bonding trip with her father and little brother, Kagome's own family was visiting a neighbor who was in the hospital with a broken leg… There were no books that needed to be finished, movies in the theater that needed to be watched, or televisions programs that needed to be caught up on.

She could call Eri, Yuka, or Ayumi, but it had been so long since they'd all hung out that it might be a little awkward.

It had been five days since she'd last texted The Stranger, and she honestly couldn't remember what the most recent message was about. Her phone was only a couple of inches away, charging on her night stand. For a few seconds, Kagome entertained the idea of wrong number texting someone on purpose. It could be a weird, new hobby. Randomly text strangers until you find one who was fun to talk to.

Then again, that was just asking for trouble, and Kagome attracted enough without trying to.

"Arrrrgh!" she finally screamed into her hands, bored and irritated and just itching to do something. Anything. "I have to get out of this house. And stop talking to myself," she muttered, descending the stairs to retrieve her shoes, coat, and purse. She could go shopping at the mall or look through the shops downtown.

She could be really bad and stop to talk to Sango's new crush.

It wasn't meddling as long as she didn't talk about Sango, right? It wasn't even recon. She was just… curious about the antiques. That was all. In fact, she remembered seeing some interesting things in there, including an old monk's staff, a noh mask, a beautiful necklace with a large purple jewel, a cute fox statue… Her mom's birthday was coming up, and she could find a good present while she was there.

So what if the boy just happened to be working, right? It wouldn't be _Kagome's_ fault, would it? No, of course not.

Plus, she wanted to buy a phone cover and a charm for her new phone. The corners were a little dinged up (she _had _bought it used, remember?), so she'd have to camouflage it with some cute accessories. The phone store she'd originally gotten her phone from was right next door to the antiques shop; pretty convenient, right?

Right!

_Don't do anything stupid. _  
_- Sango_

Kagome quickly read the text lighting up her screen, only steps inside the antiques shop. With a scoff, she put the phone in the back pocket of her jeans and approached the counter. She tried to ignore all the dust and teetering piles surrounding her, but it wasn't easy. Even if a small earthquake hit the place, or a large truck rumbled past on the street, entire columns of junk would collapse on top of her. She rounded an extremely large statue of a man with a fluffy pink boa draped casually around his shoulders before she finally spotted Sango's new friend.

"Hi!" Kagome greeted cheerily, stepping up to the man and leaning closer to read his name tag. "Miroku. Hi, Miroku."

"Hello," he responded, closing the open ledger sitting in front of him. He leaned forward on one elbow, his grin stretching dangerously wide. "What can I help you with, beautiful?"

The girl laughed it off, waving a hand as if she could dispel his flirtation that easily. "How much is that necklace in the window? The one with the big purple jewel on it?"

"The Shikon no Tama?"

"It has a name? Who names jewelry?"

"The jewel, not the neck— oh, never mind. For you, my very pretty customer, I'll sell it to you... for..." Here, Miroku petered off, struggling to come up with a price. His eyes, the dark pleasant ones that Kagome had remembered seeing from the street, darted back and forth between her chest and the closed ledger, trying to decide which he was more interested in: money or copping a feel? "Four thousand yen."

"Four thousand?" Kagome echoed incredulously. "What, did a QUEEN own it or something?"

"Four thousand isn't that much," Miroku pointed out rather reasonably. "What did you expect?"

"Two thousand," Kagome offered meekly. "It's all I have on me..."

After several minutes of attempting to haggle with him, Kagome realized that Miroku, once having decided on the money over her phone number (which coincedentally— well, that's another story), would not back down. He was, after all, just doing his job. Finally, she agreed to have him hold the necklace behind the counter, so she could return the next day with more money to make the purchase. They exhanged goodbyes, and Kagome navigated her way back to the entrance. On her way out, she accidentally opened the door into a young man who was trying to make his way in but had his nose pressed to his cell phone in a way that made it impossible for him to pay attention to where he was going.

"Sorry!" Kagome said politely, trying to sidestep him without tripping.

"Watch where you're going," he snapped back, not even bothering to look up before disappearing inside.

Before Kagome could follow him to give him a piece of her mind, she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. Already, her sparked anger at the man was turning into curosity.

_Fine, it's not like I wanted to talk to you anyway.  
__- I._

She smiled, her fingers already tapping out a reply.


	6. Part 6

Anyone got any requests? I'm honestly typing this randomly as things pop into my head. That's the nice part about drabbles; I don't even have to pretend like I'm planning any of this. Also, sorry it took so long to update this. I wrote it yesterday, but forgot to upload last night, and I just got home after a fifteen hour day.

More Inuyasha soon, I promise.

And thank you, thank you, thank you for all the reviews, hits, favorites, and alerts. I appreciate them ALL.

Disclaimer: I don't own _Inuyasha_ or the website _Wrong Number Text_.

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Wrong Number Text

Part 6

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"You're kind of cheap," Sango pointed out as she walked beside Kagome toward the antiques shop. The younger girl was counting out the bills in her hands carefully, like a miser.

"What? I find four thousand yen to be astronomically overpriced," Kagome defended.

"Kagome, last week you spent six thousand on a bracelet for yourself." At this, the brunette indicated the simple chain adorning her best friend's wrist. "And this necklace you're talking about is for your _mom's_ birthday. I think you should be happy you found something on such short notice for such a low price. You probably get your cheapness from your grandfather…"

"I'm not cheap. I'm thrifty," Kagome clarified stubbornly, folding the money and putting it in the small purse strapped over her shoulder. "I'm not like you; I don't have an after-school job. I have to rely on my measly allowance to get by."

"I work for my father's extermination company."

"Exactly! You get to get out of your house, go kill things, have some fun, and get paid for it!"

Sango stopped in her tracks, crossing her arms over her chest and giving Kagome the narrowed-eyed look that had sparked terror in many a boy at their high school. "_Bugs_," Sango said dryly, watching as Kagome shivered at the word. "I kill bugs, Kagome. I don't go out fighting crime and killing bad guys or something."

The rest of the walk was silent… well, other than Kagome's constantly buzzing cell phone. After a brief lull, Sango had noticed unpleasantly that the two were back to their weird conversation. Whenever Sango tried to inject a little reality into Kagome's fairytale, the other girl would change the subject to something completely unrelated. For example, earlier that day when Sango had asked about the boy's crazy girlfriend, Kagome had responded with a request for Sango to accompany her to pick up the necklace.

After the phone buzzed for the umpteenth time, Sango snapped and had to try once again. "He's taken, Kagome."

"One, he's taken by a crazy girl—" (here, Kagome ignored Sango's outcry of "What, and you're _not_ nuts?") "—and two, all we're doing is texting one another. Mostly bickering. It's not like we're secretly dating or exchanging private information about each other. I still don't even know his name."

"And what happens when he wants to actually meet you?" Sango asked. "Assuming, of course, that he lives in Tokyo, too."

"I think he does. I mean, it would make sense. He was friends with the previous owner of this phone, right?"

"You're not answering my question," Sango pressed. "Are you going to meet up with him if he asks?"

"Maybe I'll be the one to ask him…"

"Kagome!"

"What?" Kagome laughed at the expression on her best friend's face, picking up the pace as they finally got to the street the shop was on. "Contrary to popular belief, I'm not stupid, Sango. If—IF—he ever suggested we meet in person, it would have to be in a very public place, and I wouldn't go alone. Not that that'll ever happen. He told me he's still with his girlfriend, but I think he's talking to me so much because she's nuts, and he needs to vent to a stranger."

Sango rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, purposely deciding on the spot to be happy for Kagome for making yet another new friend. Even if it was a stupid nameless stranger through a cell phone. Plus, Sango would always have Kagome's back. And if need be, there were plenty of other people that would risk life and limb to save the almost-too-peppy, blue-eyed girl. Kouga and Hojo both had soft spots for her, plus her three airheaded friends, her entire family, and countless people that Kagome seemed to randomly come across and befriend while gallivanting around town— the redheaded little neighbor boy, Shippou, and their uptight, bitchy school counselor, Kagura, for example. (Kagura insisted the students called her by her first name, seeing as she really wasn't all that much older than them. Sango didn't see the appeal of the woman's attitude, but Kagome always tried to find the best in everyone.)

Anyway, this stranger must have felt—even through a _text _conversation—how good of a person Kagome was.

And as Kagome had pointed out, she wasn't that stupid. A little too trusting and naïve, sure, but…

"Do you ever just try messing with him?" Sango asked suddenly. "Like send him really weird messages to see what he'll respond?"

"All the time," Kagome said, perking up and leaning close to show Sango some earlier conversations. "Like yesterday, I asked if he believed in unicorns…"


	7. Part 7

Somehow, this is feeling less like a drabble collection and more like an actual story. Nooo... Stories have more responsibility.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_ or the website _Wrong Number Text_.

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 7

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The bell dangling over the doorway was caught by the edge of the door, announcing their entrance with a cheerful _ding_. Sango strode in first, confidently (which is just how she happened to walk), while Kagome trailed behind, her attention caught by all the things stacked on the dusty shelves. This time, she noticed two swords displayed in a shadow box, a pair of ancient miko robes preserved in a frame, and an ink painting depicting demons and warriors battling one another. When she caught up to her best friend, Sango was standing at the counter chatting to Miroku and some other guy. Kagome slowed, using the last few steps to—

–Well, check out the "other guy." (There's no pretty way to put that, really.) He was a little rough around the edges; his almost-black hair was probably longer than her own and the angriest scowl she'd ever seen was on his face, but Kagome decided he was nice to look at anyway. Tall, well-built, and his face seemed a little familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd seen him before, no matter how hard she thought about it. She was sure she'd remember someone who looked that… _gruff_.

She came to stand a little behind Sango, choosing to listen instead of interrupt the conversation between the brunette and Miroku. The two were exchanging some fast-paced banter that left her head spinning.

"I think," she heard someone grumble very quietly over her shoulder, "that your friend is into Miroku."

Now that she had an excuse to look at him closer, Kagome decided that he was a year or two older than she and Sango were, closer to Miroku's age. Just-out-of-high-school years old. "I think so, too," Kagome confided, smiling and trying to keep her voice low as to not interrupt the couple.

"_Why_?" The guy surprised her by saying, his voice still low but now dripping with bewilderment. He gestured wildly, and Kagome leaned back to avoid his flailing hands. "That's proof that women are insane… or stupid. Miroku's my buddy and all, but even I'll admit that he's a little sleazy."

Instinctively, Kagome wanted to jump to Miroku's defense, but she swallowed her words. "Sango can take care of herself," she decided on instead, saying the words slowly but knowing they were true.

"Yeah, maybe, but Miroku's a pervert."

Startled into laughing, Kagome admitted, "I thought that, too, actually."

"Really?" he replied with a straight face, but Kagome could see a smile lurking underneath. "Was it when he grabbed your chest 'by accident'?"

"I wouldn't let him!" Kagome vowed, bristling much like Sango had earlier that week when Kagome suggested the same thing to the brunette.

"Eh, he's sneaky. You wouldn't know it until after it had already happened."

As if to prove his point, the two were interrupted when Sango let out a shriek of outrage followed by a sharp _smack _as her palm collided with Miroku's face. She then clenched her fists at her sides while Miroku rubbed his quickly-reddening cheek, an airy smile on his face.

"I thought I saw a spider!"

Sango, fuming, whipped around to face Kagome. "Give him your money, get your necklace, and we're leaving."

"Yes, mom," Kagome said smartly. She tried to smother her laughter. "You really do have to watch out for spiders, Sango. You're lucky Miroku had your back! …I mean, _backside._"

After the exchange, Kagome took the bag from Miroku, ready to join Sango where she was hovering by the front door, waiting. Before she took off, she quickly pulled her phone from her pocket and typed up a message.

_Guys really aren't that bad after all.  
__- K._

After hitting 'send' and putting her phone away, Kagome looked up to find Miroku's friend staring at her intently with the strangest look on his face. "Who're you texting?" he asked.

Kagome quirked an eyebrow and pressed her lips together, her face screaming _rude!_ at him, uncomfortable with his suspicious question. She opened her mouth, fully intending to tell him the truth ("Some strange guy."), but found herself lying instead. "My mom."

"Oh," he said, looking—disappointed? Something. Almost immediately, they could both hear his phone cheerfully _dinging! _from his back pocket. Wary of Kagome watching, he retrieved it and read the message he'd received, his hand shielding the screen from her eyes, looking a little pleased with himself. He snapped the phone shut without responding.

"Who was that?" Kagome asked, a strange feeling bubbling in her chest that she didn't want to give a name to. What were the chances that—

"My brother," he told her after only a second of hesitation.

"Oh," she answered faintly. The feeling receded quickly only to be replaced by embarrassment. Of course. Politely, as she turned to go, she said, "Nice meeting you… uhm…"

"Inuyasha," he supplied, already turning away from her as well.

"Kagome," she introduced herself automatically. She walked away, missing the way he turned back to her suddenly, his eyebrows knit as if he was thinking about something very hard.


	8. Part 8

Once again, thanks for all the reviews and attention. You guys are great! :]

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_ or the website _Wrong Number Text_.

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 8

* * *

While Kagome and Sango returned to being girls across town by doing girl things (you know, like pillow fights, painting each other's nails, and gossiping, stuff like that), Miroku and Inuyasha remained in the antiques shop, hanging out. You know, in a manly way, talking about manly things. (Girls, cars, blood, and guts...)

Okay, they were talking about girls. Well, one girl.

"Inuyasha," Miroku was saying in a tired voice, rubbing his eyes. He was behind the counter still, a dust rag in one hand. He'd been moving it in circles in the same spot for forty-five minutes. Inuyasha was starting to suspect that he was only pretending to clean. "I'm going to say this one more time: there are probably millions of girls in Japan whose first name starts with 'K.' For example, you moron, your own ex-girlfriend, Kikyou."

"I know that," Inuyasha snapped back. "But, I just, I mean..." The more frustrated he got, the harder he found it to talk, especially with Miroku staring at him like he was an idiot. "Text Girl told me that she was in high school, and you told me that the first time Sango and Kagome came in here, they were wearing school uniforms. I remember, because you told me every single detail down to the exact number of inches, by the _quarter-inch_, their skirts were above their knees."

Miroku smiled fondly at the memory, and his eyes started to glaze over before Inuyasha snapped— rudely— in front of his nose to regain his attention.

"And, you said you sold your cell phone for some extra cash to the store next door, and Kagome obviously comes to this part of town."

Miroku breathed in deeply and leaned on the counter, adopting the most serious face he had in his arsenal; he even began stroking his chin and making quiet "Hmmm..."ing noises as if he was pondering Inuyasha's detective work very hard. "I agree that it's possible, but you have to admit, not only are there thousands of candidates that fit the profile of your new texting friend— young, female, schoolgirl— in Tokyo alone, but that's also assuming she's telling the truth. For all you know, she's really a fifty-year old sumo wrestler who is texting you from his mother's basement."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair roughly, leaving his bangs looking ruffled, which matched the frustrated, angry look on his face. "She _sounds _like a high school girl."

"And you sound mildly intelligent, but we both know you're just really good at faking it." Automatically, Miroku ducked down, feeling Inuyasha's fist fly over his head. When he stood back up, his eyes were lit up with laughter. "I think you just want it to be Kagome, because you have a little crush."

"I met the girl _once_. I'm just trying to be realistic here."

"Well, you can't approach this like you did Kikyou. You were friends with her for months before finally manning up and asking her out."

"Yeah, look at how that turned out..." Inuyasha said miserably (and angrily, but he seemed to do everything at least a little angrily lately).

Miroku shook his head, tutting like a scolding mother. "Exactly. She was class president every year, she never had a hair out of place, and I've seen her smile maybe once in the two years you were dating her. You should have seen it crashing and burning."

Inuyasha waved a hand vaguely. "That wasn't my fault. She was nuts."

"She wasn't nuts!" Miroku scolded, struggling for words. "She was... uh..."

"Nuts?"

"A little controlling," Miroku finally settled on, trying to be fair even though he had never been Kikyou's number one fan. In fact, she was probably the only woman in the world that he had never, not even once, imagined groping.

"And a little nuts."

"Fine," Miroku said. He rolled his eyes to the ceiling but admitted defeat. "Maybe a little nuts. But I blame you for that. You're even making _me _crazy."

"You were that way when I found you," Inuyasha shot back. "Anyway, I actually hope Kagome's not the girl I've been texting."

"Why not?" Miroku asked, raising his eyebrows. "Even before you and Kikyou finally ended things, you were enjoying talking to that girl. I mean, it was kind of weird. You hardly say anything at all if you can help it. In fact, you're almost as bad at conversation as Sesshoumaru, and he does most of his talking with his expressionless face. And here you are, constantly texting. You don't even like texting! It's too much like work. And you have trouble being witty or smart with limited words, not to mention a tiny little screen. So why on Earth would you _not_ want that extremely sweet, attractive Kagome to be the girl you've been spending so much time on for the past two weeks."

Inuyasha was actually silent for a moment. "She..."

"Kagome or Text Girl?"

"Text Girl."

"Go on..."

"She... _knows _things," Inuyasha admitted.

Miroku chuckled. "Now, Inuyasha," he admonished, "you should know better than to tell secrets to strangers. That is a very dangerous and naive thing to do. Now, for the sake of my curiosity, what did you tell her?"

"I don't know. Things."

"Like what?"

"Like..." Inuyasha seemed to sag a little in defeat. "I don't know. I believe in unicorns?"


	9. Part 9

Sorry, guys, for the lateness— technical difficulties.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_ or the website _Wrong Number Text_.

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 9

* * *

"Unicorns? Seriously?"

Inuyasha thought that if Miroku grinned any wider, his face would split in half. "I was _lying_. It was obvious that she was just trying to mess with me, so I was seeing how gullible she was!" (You would think that this was where we left off last time, but this was an entirely new conversation that took place a week later. Miroku just wouldn't drop the subject and had brought it up every time he and Inuyasha were in the same room together. Being best friends, that was often.)

"Stop trying to deny it. Every time you say you don't believe in unicorns, one dies."

"That's fairies, idiot," Inuyasha scoffed.

"Idiot?" Miroku cried and dramatically placed a hand to his chest in insult. "I'm not the one who believes in unicorns!"

Inuyasha's cry of frustration rattled the antiques around them.

"What else does this Text Girl know about you?" Miroku asked, good-naturedly trying to change the conversation before his friend attempted to strangle him. Inuyasha's rising anger could be gauged by his bared teeth (just like a dog's!) and the narrowing of his eyes. At the moment, Miroku calculated that he had roughly thirty seconds before Inuyasha snapped and physically harmed him. For the sake of self-preservation, he felt it was finally time to drop the topic of unicorns. For now.

"Not much. I'm not going to tell my secrets or pour my heart out to a complete stranger over texts; that would be kind of stupid."

"Kind of? Like, believing-in-unicorns kind of stupid?" Miroku countered automatically, accidentally. He raised his eyebrows to his hairline but steeled himself in case his best friend launched himself over the counter that separated the two.

Fortunately, Inuyasha waved the question away as if he was batting at a fly. "Mostly we just joke and argue."

"About what?"

"Everything?"

Miroku roared with laughter. He was once again pretending to dust the shop, but mostly that meant he was just pushing dust around with a cloth. Inuyasha wondered why he hadn't been fired yet. "Sounds like a great foundation for a relationship," Miroku pointed out with a guffaw.

Before Inuyasha could respond, his phone, sitting on the counter, vibrated with an incoming message. It danced across the surface while Miroku and Inuyasha locked eyes overhead. At once, they both shot their hands out for it, but Miroku's fingers closed around the phone first while Inuyasha's glanced off the now-empty counter. Triumphant, Miroku brought up the message to read aloud.

_Care Bears Save Rainbow the Unicorn opens this weekend. You should go._  
_- K._

On the steps of the shrine, Kagome put her phone away with a pleased, mischievous smile. She and Sango were lounging in the shade halfway up the huge stone staircase while Shippou, Souta, and Kohaku played on the sidewalk below.

"What did you do now?" Sango asked warily, staring at Kagome with trepidation.

"Nothing. Just teasing him."

"You should be nicer to him," Sango pointed out helpfully, tucking a stray lock of brown hair behind her ear. "What if he's actually an axe murderer, and he figures out who you are? Remember that very first text you ever got from him? A totally unstable individual."

Kagome laughed, leaning back onto her palms and stretching out her legs along the wide step. The sun hit her jean-clad shins and bare feet, and it was pleasantly warm. "It'll be _fine_. I like talking to him. I think I'm smarter, book-wise that is, but he's coarser and sometimes funnier. He challenges me in the insult department."

"Sounds like a great basis for a relationship," Sango muttered, too low for Kagome to hear.

The two girls were temporarily distracted when a creepy, middle-aged man in a suit walked by, leered at them, and then began chatting with the boys. Souta and Kohaku looked appropriately suspicious, but Shippou— ever the sweetheart— was falling all over himself trying to be nice and join in the conversation. After a few seconds, when the man failed to move on, Sango stood up and yelled down to the street. "Boys! Time to eat. Let's go."

Looking relieved, Souta and Kohaku excused themselves and each grabbed one of Shippou's arms to drag him to their sisters.

"Shippou," Kagome reprimanded quietly once the red-headed child was in earshot, "you shouldn't talk to strangers. What would your parents say?"

"Like you're one to talk," Sango criticized with an eye-roll.

As if to punctuate her point, Kagome's phone let out a cheerful, trilling note. Kagome predictably ignored Sango and took her phone out.

_Let me guess— that's a horror movie, right?_  
_- I. _

"Did you tell her that you broke up with Kikyou?" Miroku was asking thoughtfully, having just finished composing and sending a response for Inuyasha, who spent the entire time impatiently trying to snatch the phone back.

"Why would I?"

"She knows you were dating someone, right? That was the first thing you ever talked about."

"No," Inuyasha said, successfully grabbing the phone. He protectively slid it back into his pocket. "I haven't said anything. I don't see how it's her business."

"What if…" Miroku started slowly. "What if it really _is_ Kikyou? I mean, her name starts with a 'K.' What if it's Fate's way of telling you two that you're meant to be together, to see a side of each other that you never knew the other had? So you could reconnect through witty banter?"

The two regarded each other for several heavy seconds, the idea hanging between them, until finally they both collapsed into laughter at the thought of it.


	10. Part 10

Real quick, guys, in case you were wondering, I'm basing the physical descriptions off the manga rather than the anime, which is why Kagome has blue eyes. (I think her eye color has only come up once in this story.) Granted, sometimes her eyes look more gray in illustrations... Anyway, that's why her eyes are not brown. Also, no demons, so Inuyasha looks like he does while in human form during the new moon. Lastly, I know some of the names might appear to be spelled wrong. Sometimes people use "ou" (Shippou) and sometimes just "o" (Shippo); I've always liked the "ou" spellings, so I apologize if that has thrown anyone off. :] I haven't really read fanfiction for a long time, so I'm not sure what the case is. Back when I first started in, uhm... 2003? (Gah! That makes me feel old.)... both spellings were used.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha _or the website _Wrong Number Text._

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 10

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Kagome felt a little awkward standing in line at a movie theater by herself. Sango had called and apologized, unable to make it after unexpectedly having to watch Kohaku when their father had an emergency extermination to go to, but Kagome had already caught a train downtown. Not only would it be a complete waste of time and money to turn around and go home right away, but she had been really looking forward to the movie. The previews made it look great, full of action, adventure, and even a little romance. There were demons and warriors and just a touch of magic. Plus, there were great feudal costumes and (Kagome's curiosity had gotten the better of her, and she'd looked up too many reviews online) a twist ending that had to do with time travel.

In other words, it was supposed to be _awesome_.

"What do you mean you have to close the shop? It's your day off!"

Kagome, as well as several other people in line with her, turned to look at the source of the commotion. A young man, pacing in a tight circle while yelling into his cell phone, wasn't too far back. With a start, Kagome recognized him as Inuyasha, Miroku's friend from the antiques store.

"I'm already down here, and the next bus isn't for another forty-five minutes. If I have to wait that long, I might as well wait the three hours until the one after that and actually see the movie. We've been planning this for weeks, man." Even as the person on the other end of the conversation— Kagome was guessing Miroku— appeared to calm Inuyasha down, his voice stayed slightly raised and angry. She decided that was probably just how he talked. Someday, he'd probably have a coronary…

When he snapped his phone shut a minute later, Kagome quickly turned back to the front, debating whether or not to say something. It would be nice and polite, and he was kind of cute… At the same time, he obviously had an attitude problem, and she didn't want to make things awkward. Well, more awkward than going to a movie by herself, which was already really awkward. But which was worse?

Steeling her nerves, Kagome turned around again to say a nice, simple 'hello,' only to find him_ right there in her face_, probably trying to jostle his way to the front of the line.

"Oh," he said, his voice actually at a normal volume. "You're, uh…"

"Kagome," she filled in helpfully, pasting a smile on her face.

"I knew that," he snapped. "I mean. Sorry. I just—"

"Got stood up? Me, too," Kagome said with a sigh and shrug. "Sango couldn't make it."

"Miroku's a creep; he totally bailed."

Kagome stifled an amused snort. "You know, for his best friend, you're kind of mean to him."

"Oh, don't give me that," Inuyasha muttered, shoving his hands in his jeans' pockets and coming to stand next to her in line as if they'd been planning to go in together all along. The people behind her shot him dirty looks; but seriously, who would stand up to him? "Don't ever let Miroku fool you. The only things on his mind are money and women. In that order."

"Maybe I should warn Sango."

"I thought you said Sango could take care of herself?" Inuyasha shot back, quirking an eyebrow. He had to look down at her, being at least five inches taller.

"Well, as her _friend_, I am obligated to warn her, because that's what _friends _do," Kagome said pointedly, pursing her lips and trying to convey silently (but not very subtly) that she didn't think he treated Miroku well, pervert or not.

"I'd have his back in a fight," Inuyasha mused aloud finally, as if trying to validate his friendship. "And not just a bar brawl; I'm talking a to-the-death _battle_."

"I'd think that would just be to satisfy your own love of violence…"

"Says the girl in line to see _Bloody Feudal Fairy Tale_," he countered. They moved up a few paces in line. "You're not here for the costumes and the cheesy couple parts, right?"

"I'm here for the movie in its entirety," Kagome argued diplomatically. "I think all of it looks good."

"Ha! We'll see what you say about that when it's done. I bet the bloody parts are better than the romance."

And together, they reached the counter and bought tickets.


	11. Part 11

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

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Wrong Number Text

Part 11

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Kagome didn't really understand how or why, but she and Inuyasha were sitting next to each other at the counter of a sushi bar. For every one thing she plucked off the conveyor belt, he grabbed three. (He'd also had three glasses of water and a bowl of udon soup.) It had been half an hour since the movie had ended, and here they were still sitting next to each other, joking and arguing and talking as if they'd been friends for years. At one point, he'd even snagged some wasabi off her plate with his chopsticks.

After the movie had let out, they'd left the theater and started in the direction of the trains, and a block later (which had flown by as they discussed the finer points of _Bloody Feudal Fairy Tale_'s plot), they passed the sushi shop. Kagome, excited, pointed it out and explained that it was her favorite one. Inuyasha had immediately opened the door and silently gestured her in.

Attending the movie itself had been far less awkward than she'd feared. There was one point where they accidentally bumped elbows over the shared armrest, but they had laughed and jumped at the same parts. Inuyasha had quietly mocked her when she teared up near the end when the heroine thought the hero had died. (He survived.)

"No way," Inuyasha was arguing enthusiastically at the moment, "the action parts were way better."

"The blood looked so fake. And I don't understand why people in movies always have to shout out the name of their attack right before they do it. So very stupid. Doesn't that just alert the bad guys or something?"

"Makes the movie work better," he theorized around a mouth full of rice and seaweed. "And it instills fear in the enemy."

"The romance parts were so much better written," Kagome asserted dreamily with a vague smile on her face, chopsticks poised in the air halfway between her plate and her face. "Since they ended up together, it wasn't so bad that like eighty people died along the way."

"He was kind of a jerk," Inuyasha said irritably. "And dense. Half the time, he was jerking her around or insulting her."

"He was covering up his sensitive side!"

"Ha! She was a little too dramatic. And she kept getting herself in trouble."

"Oh, come on! It totally worked. You have to admit it, they were cute together."

"Eh," he muttered noncommittally, but Kagome took his lack of argument for agreement.

Kagome opened up her mouth to say something else, possibly about the costumes or actors, but her phone interrupted them from her pocket. Automatically, she pulled it out before thinking about how rude it would be to start texting someone in the middle of a conversation with Inuyasha. (She never worried about this while with Sango, much to Sango's frustration.)

And then she thought,_ This might be a message from _him. She had this weird mixture of feelings bubbling in her belly at that idea— excitement about hearing from her phone friend as well as disappointment by the fact that she was momentarily distracted from her conversation with Inuyasha…

"Go ahead," Inuyasha said dismissively, taking another bite of food.

It turned out to not be a message from "him."

_Wanna catch the movie tomorrow? _  
_- Sango_

Stupidly, Kagome felt guilty for seeing the movie without her, but then she remembered Sango had been the one to bail.

_Already saw it. _  
_- Kags_

_…_

_Alone? Awkward! _  
_- Sango_

_…_

_No, with Inuyasha. _  
_- Kags_

_…_

_Oooh! _  
_- Sango_

_…_

_Don't be silly. Just happened to bump into each other. _  
_- Kags_

_…_

_Still with him? _  
_- Sango_

_…_

_Movie was good. I could totally see it a second time with you. _  
_- Kags_

_…_

_Don't change the subject! _  
_- Sango_

Kagome bit her lip to keep from laughing and put her phone away, not bothering to respond. The entire conversation had taken place in less than two minutes, so she didn't feel too guilty about her rudeness.

"Where were we?" Kagome asked, turning back to him.

"The romance," Inuyasha responded.

"Right," she said, grinning wider. "The romance."


	12. Part 12

My heart goes out to everyone affected in Japan.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 12

* * *

"So?" Sango asked expectantly, leaning against Kagome's desk with a wide grin stretching her face.

"So… what?" Kagome continued flipping through her notebook, not even bothering to look up at her best friend. She was keeping a straight face but inside she was giggling like, well, a schoolgirl. (Half over how irritated she knew Sango was about to get and half thinking about her day with Inuyasha.)

"You stopped responding to my texts. I want to know what happened. Spill."

"What happened with what?" Kagome kept her voice light, continuing to turn the pages even though she'd long since passed her notes and was now going through a blank notebook. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

Sango slammed a hand down on the desk, leaned real close, and narrowed her eyes to slits.

Kagome, in turn, just raised her eyebrows and smiled sweetly. "I've seen you dressed up like a hot dog for your first part-time job. You can't intimidate me."

"Oh, I know for a fact that I intimidate you."

Kagome folded her hands to keep the brunette from noticing how much they were shaking. "We're in school, and class starts in less than three minutes."

With a swish of her ponytail, Sango pushed off from Kagome's desk and collapsed into her own seat a few feet away, a murderous look on her face. "School can't save you forever," she threatened under her breath. Kagome gulped.

_I am so dead. _  
_- K._

_…_

_What? Why? _  
_- I._

_…_

_My best friend's psychotic. _  
_- K._

_…_

_I think you're psychotic. _  
_- I._

_…_

_Gee, thanks. _  
_- K._

_…_

_Welcome. :) _  
_- I._

Kagome grumbled and put her phone away as the teacher walked in, looking stern and upset as always. Class dragged by slowly, Kagome getting back her math test (she did horribly) and her history paper (she did surprisingly well), and the entire time she couldn't shake the feeling that Sango was glaring at her. Probably because she was. Timidly, Kagome faced forward, trying to decide if teasing Sango was worth the possible physical harm. Sango was, after all, a very strong girl, and Kagome bruised easily.

To distract herself from the extremely boring geography lesson taking place at the front of the room, she thought back to the rest of her night.

After sushi, Inuyasha had voluntarily walked her to the train station. Granted, that's where he was going, too, so it might not have counted… but at least he didn't just ditch her and walk ahead or something. Along the way, conversation turned from the movie to school (Inuyasha and Miroku had graduated a little over a year earlier) and the future (Kagome wanted to become a teacher or social worker; Inuyasha was very vague but explained that he worked for the family business) and then obviously family (Kagome loved hers; Inuyasha couldn't stand his only living relative, his brother Sesshoumaru) and friends (it turned out that Kagome's guidance councilor, the beautiful but cynical Kagura, was dating said brother). They spent several minutes cracking jokes about Sango and Miroku's budding relationship (Inuyasha declared that he was, no matter what, on Sango's side about absolutely everything even though he'd never actually spoken to her before, because Miroku was always wrong) and then about the coincidence of running into each other at the movie theater, both going to the same movie and both having been ditched by their best friends.

And by the time Kagome got home, she couldn't help her growing crush on the boy, because, she had to admit, he was charming in a rough, pessimistic, grumbly sort of way. (For his part, Inuyasha was fighting some goofy feeling he kept getting whenever he thought about how gosh darned cute Kagome was.)

Then Kagome was distracted by her distraction when she thought about her mystery texter's last message which had included a smiley face, meaning he was also in a good mood. She wondered why but then thought about how he had a girlfriend (as mentioned in their first few conversations but not since), and she was afraid to follow that train of thought to its source.

In the last hour of class, her thoughts turned to Sango, then Miroku, then back to Inuyasha, and finally to unicorns, because that was where almost all thoughts end up.


	13. Part 13

Aww, guys, over a hundred reviews? Virtual hugs for everyone! Unless you don't like hugs... then a virtual NON-hug for you. :] I think I still consider this a collection of drabbles and not a story because, as you can see, my pacing is a little off and the chapters are short. My (older) fanfictions have outrageously long chapters and the plot pacing is a little too slow. SO! Hopefully I can keep up with the quick updates and keep this light-hearted and fun to distract you guys from the shortness.

A longer update in celebration of my review count! (But still kind of short.)

P.S. Inuyasha's background, glimpsed here, is just for a laugh. There is no overarching plot or deep meaning behind it. It was mostly to poke fun at some of the cliche backgrounds given to AU Inuyasha by most authors (including me!).

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 13

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"Do you think it's weird that he has longer hair than me?" Kagome asked, nibbling on a cookie. She and Sango were sitting on the patio of a cramped cafe, drinking tea and attacking a plate of pastries they had splurged on. Sango had cornered Kagome after class, Kagome had laughingly (and meekly) agreed to tell her best friend all the details, and the two girls had moved their conversation to somewhere they could eat.

"It _is_ long..." Sango mused with a sip of her tea.

"Really, really long." Kagome grabbed a handful of her own hair and brought it in front of her nose to inspect. She had never been very big on her hair, but now she wondered if the boy she was interested in actually had better hair than she did. Was longer better?

"Now that I think about," the brunette was saying, her own hair out of the way in a ponytail and out of the way, "Miroku has long hair, too. I mean, only a little long, but it's in that ponytail. Do you think that means they're tough guys?"

"Tough?" Kagome echoed. "I always thought longer hair on guys was a little... you know, feminine. Like, fancy, sophisticated, serious. I mean, have you seen Kagura's boyfriend, Sesshoumaru? (OH! I forgot to tell you, he's Inuyasha's _brother_!) His hair is longer than I've ever seen on a man before. And beautiful. I almost asked him what shampoo he uses... but he kind of looks meaner than even Kagura."

"Miroku is defenitely not serious, and Inuyasha doesn't sound very fancy or sophisticated. Maybe they just don't realize that hair grows and needs to be cut? Or maybe they can't afford haircuts?"

Kagome shook her head, reaching for a thin slice of cake. "I don't think that's it. He said he works for his family's company, which sounded really important and big."

"Kagome, _I_ work for my 'family's company,' and we exterminate _bugs_." (The younger girl shuddered at the word. Again.) "Did he give you any details about the company?"

"No, I guess not really. They could be plumbers or something. I don't know why I assumed it meant some big corporation with a CEO and a meeting room."

Sango started laughing and covered her mouth to keep any crumbs from spilling out, seeing as she had just taken a big bite of a scone. "I know why, because you have a crazy, weird imagination. I would just like to take this time to remind you of your texter guy and all your white knight fantasies about him. See, aren't you glad you never pursued anything with him? A real boy is here now."

But Kagome didn't really want to be reminded of her 'texter guy.' "Speaking of texting, do you think it's weird that Inuyasha didn't ask for my phone number?"

Sango knit her eyebrows together. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her long legs over one another with a frown. "He didn't? That is kind of weird. Maybe he forgot."

"Or! Or! Maybe he wants to see if we serendipitously run into one another again, meaning Fate means for us to be together."

Sango howled with laughter, which she choked on after she noticed Kagome pulling out her phone and rapidly typing in a text. "What are you doing?"

"Going to our only source for manly knowledge. It's not like we can go to Souta or Kohaku for advice like this!"

_Did you ask for your girlfriend's number after your first date?  
__- K._

_..._

_BEFORE the first date. Random.  
__- I._

"What was that?" Miroku asked, leaning back into the couch in Inuyasha's living room. Inuyahsa, it turns out, lived on an entire floor in the family company building. Sesshoumaru had been horrified at the idea of his younger half-brother living with him in his sprawling mansion, so he had footed the bill for some renovations. You see, Sesshoumaru was the CEO of some stereotypic powerful corporation, and Inuyasha was Vice President of Marketing. Or Vice President of Services. Something that sounded important. Really, the only job given to him by Sesshoumaru was to show up to a staff meeting once a month with his shirt tucked in, his hair brushed, and his mouth firmly shut. After their father's death, it had been insisted by his father's will that both boys took positions at the company to further the family's reign over Japan's technologies. Or media. Or construction. Inuyasha didn't really know or care.

What this meant was that he had a lot of funds and time to do whatever he wanted in the final year of his teenager-hood. In fact, he'd recently played with the idea of becoming a superhero or a vigilante or whatever, someone who saved the day with a gruff attitude... more like Bruce Wayne than Clark Kent, using his family's vast riches to buy a ton of awesome gadgets that—

"What was that?" Miroku repeated himself with exasperation, snapping his fingers in front of Inuyasha to pull him out of whatever crazy trance the guy had gotten himself into. Just in case, he pointed to the open phone still lying in Inuyasha's hand.

"What? Oh, uh, that girl that texts me just asked me another weird question about getting a girl's phone— OH SHIT, NO!"

"Inuyasha?"

"I forgot to ask for Kagome's phone number!" he howled.

_Is it a bad sign if a girl didn't get her number asked for?  
__- K._

_..._

_"A girl"? Or you?  
__- I._

_..._

_Does it matter?  
__- K._

_..._

_If "a girl," from personal experience, it could have been an accident.  
__- I._

_..._

_And if me?  
__- K._

_..._

_He was probably scared off by your psychotic and random questions.  
__- I._

_..._

_This have to do with unicorns?  
__- K._

_..._

_Everything has to do with unicorns with you.  
__- I._

"You're smiling."

"Huh?" Kagome asked intelligently, looking up from her phone and blinking wide, doe eyes at Sango.

"You always smile when you talk to that guy."

"Because talking to him is fun; you'd have fun, too." Kagome's voice was defensive now, cradling her phone to her chest as if Sango might take it from her by force. "It doesn't mean anything. Like you've said, many many _many _times, the guy on the other end of this conversation could be anyone, even a woman."

"So... you have, what, a word crush on him? A text crush?"

Kagome opened her mouth with a retort ready on her tongue, but she swallowed it back down, deciding to be less impulsive and more logical about this. "I might have a crush on the conversations we have, because he makes me laugh. But that doesn't really mean anything."

"Because...?" Sango said, drawing the word out as if she was purposefully trying to lead Kagome to a conclusion. Since they were kids, Sango, as the elder of the two, had always been a little protective of Kagome, holding her hand through life and nudging her back onto the correct path whenever Kagome wandered. (Which, if you hadn't figured out by now, was often. Kagome got distracted by some shiny object or fantasy and raced after it, mixing up her priorities.)

"Because," Kagome repeated, meeting Sango's eyes but her own were focused on something far off. "Because he's not real. Inuyasha's real. This guy is just..."

"An illusion," Sango concluded in a goofy voice, smiling. "Enjoy your conversations, but don't forget about the real, live, breathing boy that you just met."

Kagome paused for a second, obviously turning something over in her mind. While waiting, Sango finished her tea and ate the last cookie, stacking their dirty plates on top of each other to make it easier for the waitress who would have to clean up after them. She even used her napkin to brush off the table. "Can I still text him?" Kagome asked, putting her forefingers together in front of her nose in a look of pure innocence.

"I don't see why not, as long as you remember that he is..."

"An illusion," Kagome finished enthusiastically. "Like unicorns! Except, you know, they're real, so that's a poor example. Like demons! They're a load of bull."


	14. Part 14

I'm thinking this collection will go to Part 20, and I even have an idea for the very last thing that will happen. I'd like to once again thank everyone for the views and reviews. You've been amazing, guys.

For those who don't remember (I certainly didn't and had to look the name up), Mushin is the monk who raised Miroku after his father died.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 14

* * *

Despite popular opinion (in other words, despite Sango's opinion), Kagome wasn't as dense as she sometimes let on. A few days after her accidental date, she went back to the antiques store. Even if Inuyasha wasn't there, Miroku was bound to be. On top of not being dense, Kagome was also fully capable of taking her love life into her own hands. She was not going to wait around for Inuyasha to track _her _down. Let's face it: he came off as kind of stubborn and lazy.

Unfortunately, when she walked into the shop, Miroku wasn't the one behind the counter. Instead, there was a little, old(, probably drunk) man by the name of Mushin. The old man was more obvious in his lechery, stumbled too often to get a good grope (although he tried), and used far too many innuendos. In other words, he was no help at all.

What Kagome didn't know was that Sango had already been to the shop and nabbed Miroku about an hour earlier. They were on their own pseudo date at… the mall.

It was a "pseudo" date because, really, all Sango wanted was information about Inuyasha, and all Miroku wanted was to admire Sango in her school uniform that she hadn't had time to change out of. It was still a "date," because it was obvious to everyone that saw them walking, talking, and arguing together that they were into one another.

"You really want to spend this time talking about _Inuyasha_?" Miroku asked incredulously, carefully folding his hands together to keep them from inching towards Sango's rear end. Again. The palm print still hadn't faded from his face from when he had "greeted" her at the shop.

"Yes, I really do," Sango insisted. She was momentarily distracted by a window displaying a line of athletic clothing, but she pulled her eyes away. "Do you think Inuyasha likes Kagome?"

"What are we, in high school?"

"Actually, I _am _in high school, thanks. I don't wear this skirt for fashion," Sango pointed out smartly.

"I wish all women wore that skirt for fashion... Wait, not _all_ women. Just ones with really great legs. But to answer your— immature, I might add— question, yes, I think Inuyasha is interested in Kagome."

"Is he a good guy?"

"Inuyasha? Honestly, he's kind of a jerk. I mean, he'll do the right thing most of the time, and I think he enjoys helping people, but he's just… snarky about it."

"Snarky?"

"Yeah. You know, rude. Petulant. Whiny. Insulting."

Sango rolled her eyes and thought back to Kagome's play-by-play retell of The Date, how Inuyasha's description of his best friend hadn't sounded very friendly either. "I think you and Inuyasha need to have a heart-to-heart and work on your relationship."

Miroku smiled charmingly at her. Out of the corner of her eye, Sango saw a group of fourteen-year-olds swoon. "We have a complicated friendship."

"I've noticed."

"Now you and Kagome, you have a very obvious friendship. You act like her big sister."

"Someone has to take care of her," Sango muttered. "She's just so… I don't know. She's spontaneous and so heart-felt. She has to befriend and help everyone."

"And you're down to earth and only help those who you are close to."

"Maybe," she admitted, looking away, disliking how he'd figured her out so well in only a handful of meetings.

"Which means you'd sell _me_ out in a heartbeat."

"Maybe," she repeated, this time grinning but still keeping her face turned away. "So, how about I get your phone number so that Kagome and I can stop traveling all the way downtown to visit that dusty shop of yours?"

"It would be my pleasure," Miroku said with a flourish, but stumbled to a halt, his eyes suddenly widening. "Well, except I don't have a phone."

"You're a teenager in Japan, how do you not have a phone?"

"I sold it last month for some cash to the store next door to the shop."

"Wait," Sango said, her mind moving quickly as things started to snap into place. She had always been good at thinking quick on her feet, putting things together and seeing the whole picture where others only saw the small details. "You sold your phone to the phone store next door to the antiques shop. And Inuyasha's your friend. And his name starts with an 'I.'"

"I think I just said that."

"What was your old phone number?"

"How is that going to help you out now? Think you might like the new owner better than the old one?"

Sango began to smile. "Actually, I'm pretty sure I already do."

The confident and smooth Miroku started to deflate a little, having trouble following the conversation, disliking Sango's words, and distrusting the way she was starting to grin, as if something had just gotten caught in a trap. "Wait, what?"

Sango insisted on Miroku giving her his old phone number, and she compared it to one in her address book, her eyes lighting up with realization. "Oh, this is great. This is _great_," she said gleefully. "The only question is, should I tell them or should we see how long it takes them to figure it out on their own?"

As she started to stride off in the direction of the exit, Miroku trailed after her confusedly. "Sango, _what are you talking about_?"


	15. Part 15

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 15

* * *

"I think you should meet her," Miroku said suddenly, staring intently down into his bowl of ramen. He and Inuyasha were out having a cheap, late dinner after Miroku's earlier adventures at the mall with Sango.

"What?" Inuyasha asked around a mouthful of noodles, a drop dribbling from the corner of his mouth until he wiped it away with the back of his hand.

Miroku turned his eyes away, his stomach churning at the contents of his friend's mouth. "I think you should meet her, the texting girl."

"Why? What about Kagome?"

Miroku snorted, fighting a smile. He was admittedly great at lying and tricking almost everyone, but mainly strangers. Inuyasha, however, had perfected over the years when to call Miroku out on his bullshit. Carefully, he chose his words, relying mostly on Sango's coaching. (Sango, ever the strategist, had come up with the most likely arguments and counterarguments.) "Why are you fighting this? Only a couple of weeks ago, you were the one desperate to figure out who this 'K.' was."

"Not desperate," Inuyasha snapped. "I'm never desperate. For anything. And I was, if you can remember, trying to figure out if 'K.' was Kagome, and you ruled that out. I guess I don't care as much now who she is, as long as I get to keep arguing with her over texts. It's not as important who's behind it now that I know Kagome's interested in me. Which, by the way, _you_ told me about. You're such a cheerleader."

"Wow."

"What?"

"I don't know if I've ever heard that much come out of your mouth before. And about _feelings_!" Here, Inuyasha socked him in the arm, a little too hard to be considered 'friendly.' "I think you should meet her," Miroku said again, rubbing the sore spot with a wince, already knowing a bruise would form.

"Why?" Inuyasha was obviously exasperated. Miroku had until his bowl was empty before his patience was completely worn thin.

"For Kagome."

"That doesn't make any sense," Inuyasha pointed out with a scowl. "Only you would suggest I meet up with another girl immediately after finding one I already like. Not everyone is able to or wants to juggle two girlfriends."

Miroku rolled his eyes to the ceiling of the small ramen shop. Why did everyone insist on his so-called lecherous ways? He honestly didn't think he was that bad. He would _never _cheat. In fact, he would never have an official girlfriend in the first place; it sounded like way too much trouble. Except, maybe, if that one girlfriend was a certain leggy brunette... "That's not what I meant. What I meant was, how can you enter into a relationship with Kagome if you have this mystery girl hanging over your head?"

"You're encouraging me to meet up with a complete stranger after you spent so much time pointing out the dangers of it."

At that, Miroku looked his friend over— a fairly tall man with an air of burliness around him, angry features, and clenched fists. "Somehow," he stated dryly, "I think you'll be safe. Also, I have a good feeling about this."

Inuyasha let out a puff of agitated breath, ruffling his bangs. "I can't believe you didn't get Kagome's number from Sango earlier today!"

"I got distracted," Miroku defended.

"Please, don't tell me by what."

"Fine," Miroku said petulantly. "Don't ask me about my own love life, even though I've sat through your complaining for weeks now. Years, actually, when you factor in Kikyou."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes similar to the way his friend had done earlier, missing how Miroku used the opportunity to grab his phone from the counter top and began to text quickly in his lap. Of course, Inuyasha noticed once the phone began buzzing with responses, but Miroku stubbornly kept yanking it out of his reach.

_I broke up with my girlfriend.  
__- I._

_..._

_What?  
__- K._

_..._

_Weeks ago.  
__- I._

_..._

_I'm sorry for your loss?  
__- K._

_..._

_I think we should meet.  
__- I._

_..._

_Hold up, you're the one who's been so stubborn about your private life!  
__- K._

_..._

_I changed my mind.  
__- I._

_..._

_So you're also wishy-washy.  
__- K._

_..._

_Tomorrow. 5pm. Cha Cha Hana?  
__- I._

Kagome stared openly at her phone, lying so innocently in her palm, but her expression suggested it was more like a snake that could bite her at any moment.

"What's wrong?" Sango asked casually, flipping through the pages of a magazine while sprawled across her bed. Truth be told, she wasn't paying any attention to the articles or photo spreads, her eyes locked instead on Kagome with a smile lurking just beneath the surface.

"He's being weird. Now he wants to meet," Kagome muttered.

Sango was quiet for a moment, worried that Kagome had caught on that something was off. The plan had been for Miroku to convince Inuyasha that meeting was a good idea, all _Inuyasha_'s idea. The two, Inuyasha and Kagome, would meet at Cha Cha Hana, see one another, realize that it had been each other all along, and everyone would be happy. The imaginative, optimistic, spontaneous Kagome was not supposed to ask questions and ruin everything.

Sango had been playing a Kagome-esque scene in her head all afternoon after leaving the mall and explaining her plan of attack to Miroku. The following evening, Inuyasha and Kagome would get all dressed up, both nervous but excited to finally discover the person on the other end of their text conversations. Kagome would be wearing a cute green sweater and Inuyasha a red jacket so they could identify one another in the crowded restaurant. Kagome would pause in the doorway, her blue eyes scouring the room for several seconds for a handsome, young man in telltale red. When she found Inuyasha, her eyes would light up, a smile would bloom across her face, a swarm of butterflies bursting to life in her stomach as she recognized the man she was meeting as the one and only Inuyasha. She'd approach his table, and he, who by this time would have noticed the pretty, petite girl, would be grinning foolishly and standing up to greet her. The entire story would tumble out of their mouths, comparing their phones and laughing at the sheer coincidence of everything.

And they would owe it all to Sango (and Miroku).

So _why _was Kagome questioning this turn of events and ruining everything? "So what's the problem?" Sango asked, fighting the smile even harder now after the above scenario flitted across her brain.

"I don't know. It seems weird... Random and really sudden. Plus, he's not being nearly as witty and snarky—" the exact word Miroku had used to describe Inuyasha earlier that day! "— as normal. It's like someone else is texting for him..."

Damn it, Miroku. "Maybe he's just nervous. I think you should do it."

Kagome turned her suspicious, surprised face from her phone to Sango. "You what? Miss He-Could-Be-an-Old-Pervert, Miss Be-Careful, Miss Get-Your-Head-Out-of-the-Clouds. _Now _you support me meeting with this stranger? What about Inuyasha? I thought you were excited about him!"

"You'd be meeting this guy _for _Inuyasha," Sango explained patiently, using the same argument she'd carefully formulated for Miroku. She'd been banking on Inuyasha putting up a fight, not Kagome. "You can't date Inuyasha if you're still fantasizing about some random guy."

"I don't fantasize about him!" Kagome said defensively.

"Kagome," Sango started dryly, "You fantasize constantly about all kinds of boys. You even dreamt about the mailman once. A knight and a princess riding off into the sunset on a unicorn, I believe it was."

"Sango!" Kagome shrieked, clapping her hands to her flaming cheeks to cover her embarrassment. "I was eight years old! And I told you in the strictest confidence, and you promised me you'd never, ever speak of it ever again."

"See, you need to get this out of your system," Sango encouraged triumphantly, biting her lip to hide her evil grin. "It'll be perfect, especially if he's ugly and old and creepy. It'll also teach you a lesson."

"But..." Kagome said slowly, thoughtfully, her eyes downcast as the blush faded from her cheeks. "What if he's hot? I mean, even more attractive than Inuyasha?"

"Somehow, I doubt it," Sango said, patting Kagome on the back of the hand.

After a deep breath, Kagome turned again to her phone.

_Deal.  
__- K._


	16. Part 16

Before you read, I would just like to say one thing: _Don't worry, I have a plan_. I promise to make up for anything that seems missing in this chapter before the end of the story. Have faith. :]

And I'll post Part 17 soon, in case the ending of this drabble leaves you hanging too much.

Edit at almost midnight, same night: Sorry for anyone offended by Kouga wearing a "tshit" and not a "tshirt"! That puts a whole new spin on things, eh? FIXED.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 16

* * *

"How do I look?" Kagome asked for the fifth time, running her hand through her hair and tugging at her green cardigan to straighten it out.

"Great," Sango practically growled for the fifth time. "Even better than five minutes ago."

Kagome shot her an ungrateful look. Sango had offered to walk her as far as a block away from the restaurant. Along the way, Kagome's eyes had been constantly drawn to people walking past. It may just have been her, but she felt like there was an obscene number of attractive men wearing red... At one point even, she saw the tall, statuesque Sesshoumaru across the street, wearing a red sweater over a pair of casual khakis, looking like a model with his perfect posture and bored expression. Thankfully, before Kagome's mind could jump to conclusions, she noticed Kagura the Councelor not too far off, peering into a shop window at a display of beautiful painted fans. And he wasn't the only one. Kagome had also noticed Kouga in a bright red tshirt and Hojo in a red scarf. For such a beautiful spring day, the early evening was awfully brisk. Kagome was beginning to regret the short green skirt Sango had talked her into wearing...

With a gentle push on her shoulders, Sango nudged Kagome in the direction of Cha Cha Hana just down the street. The younger girl started forward tentatively, wringing her hands and tugging again at her cardigan and skirt, looking unsure but excited, just as the brunette had pictured. After one last look over her shoulder at Sango, Kagome started to walk a little faster. As soon as she was a safe distance away, Miroku stepped out of the shadows to stand next to the remaining girl.

"How'd it go?" Miroku asked, watching Kagome walk away. (A little too appreciatively, if his eyes glued to the petite girl's rear end meant anything.)

Sango responded first by punching Miroku in the arm, in the exact same spot Inuyasha had socked him the night before. Muffling his cry of anguish, he turned shocked eyes on his would-be girlfriend. "That's for texting Kagome and pretending to be Inuyasha," Sango clarified, crossing her arms over her chest.

"How'd you know?"

"Kagome figured it out... We're lucky she agreed anyway. She could tell something was weird. Apparently you're not as witty as Inuyasha."

Miroku scoffed pretentiously. "There is no way; I'm clearly more intelligent than him."

"Not according to Kagome," Sango said in a sing-song voice. Before Miroku could respond, she held a hand up to silence him. "Wait, is that Inuyasha? Why isn't he in the restaurant?"

"Inuyasha doesn't really walk fast, he just sort of strolls... I guess it took him longer to get there than expected."

Together, Sango and Miroku watched from down the block as the unsuspecting Inuyasha and Kagome approached the restaurant from different directions. They would run into each other right at the doorway. Sango fretted for a moment, but consoled herself that this was actually better than her imagined scenario— this way, she would get to actually see their reactions as they met. As expected, when Kagome and Inuyasha noticed one another and locked eyes, both slowed a little, calling out greetings. The brunette watched as Kagome smiled shyly, once again blushing, while Inuyasha's expression seemed shocked but pleased. They stood about ten feet away from Cha Cha Hana, chatting. Unfortunately, their matchmakers were too far away to hear what the lovebirds were saying.

Intently, Sango eyed their gestures and facial expressions, trying to figure out what was going on, how quickly they were revealing themselves to one another. Kagome indicated the restaurant with a wave of her hand, Inuyasha looked at the front doors, and after a few more minutes, the two shrugged. As one, they turned in a different direction and started to walk away.

"What's happening?" Sango asked desperately. She was sure everything had been explained. How could it not? Kagome was in green, Inuyasha was in red, they ran into each outside the planned meeting place, and their names began with 'K' and 'I.' There was absolutely no possible way that even those two could be that dense... right?

"I can't read lips, Sango," Miroku said, also watching the two walking away with a look of concern on his face. Suddenly, a devious smile overtook his expression as he turned to look at the brunette at his side. "At least, I can't read lips from this far away. Let me try yours." And he ducked to catch Sango by surprise.

Sadly (for Miroku), Sango had quick reflexes, and she was intently focused on the retreating couple. She clapped a hand over his mouth and pushed his face away, her eyes never leaving Kagome and Inuyasha. As she watched, she noticed how closely they walked next to one another along the sidewalk, talking to each other with smiles on their faces. Kagome sidestepped someone else on the busy walkway and pressed closer to Inuyasha, her hand accidentally brushing his. After only a second of hesitation, Inuyasha's fingers laced themselves through Kagome's. Then they disappeared from view.

Feeling giddy and uneasy, Sango turned back to Miroku who was struggling to pry her hand from his face. "I guess we'll have to wait to see what happened. And Miroku?"

"Emf?" he asked, his voice muffled.

"Ever try that again, and I'll do worse than just slap you."

_Ran into Inuyasha! Couldn't meet with I.  
__- Kags_

Sango stared forlornly at the message on her phone. She'd received it not long after she'd ditched Miroku. Kagome would hopefully arrive on her doorstep any second to explain the full story. For several minutes, the brunette thought about how disappointed she was. Mostly because her plan had failed. Sango the Strategist had failed. She also worried about Kagome's mental capacity...

As if summoned by Sango's thoughts, Kagome blew through Sango's front door, kicked off her shoes, and then flopped down next to Sango on the couch.

"Sango!" the blue-eyed girl yelled happily, a wide smile stretching her face. "Oh, it was wonderful. I ran into Inuyasha (see, I told you Fate wanted us together!), and we decided to go to a video arcade instead of eat at Cha Cha Hana, even though it was right there and we were both planning on going there tonight anyway. He totally held my hand, and I know you'll think it's really cheesy, but our hands fit together perfectly. I swear he was blushing, but he did it anyway, and I almost cried, I was so happy. At one point, some guy bumped into my shoulder by accident on the sidewalk, and he completely flipped on the guy. I mean, I appreciate his 'defending my honor' and all, but it was mostly hilarious. I wasn't even hurt. He looked so amazing! He was in this button-down, long-sleeved shirt, and he looked so handsome, even though he kept tugging at his collar like he was uncomfortable. After the arcade, we went and grabbed food from this ramen stand (ramen's his favorite food!), and then he walked me home. I talked about the shrine, and he seemed really interested. And then, _and then _he kissed my cheek goodnight, blushed worse than me, and practically ran away. It was adorable."

Sango blinked slowly at the giddy girl, trying to digest all this. "So you blew off the meeting with 'I' for another impromptu date with Inuyasha?"

Quickly, Kagome's look turned to one of all-consuming guilt. "Ohno!"

_I am so very, very sorry. I ran into a friend and forgot to show up!  
__- K._

_..._

_That's okay. Me, too.  
__- I._

Inuyasha tucked his phone away and turned back to Miroku, the largest grin on his face. He had just finished telling his best friend the same story Kagome had related to Sango, but his version of course made him sound far less sappy. Miroku, meanwhile, was staring at Inuyasha with the strangest look on his face, like disappointment, worry, and frustration all mixed together.

"Okay, Inuyasha," Miroku said slowly, breathing deeply as if to repress any violent or unhappy thoughts. "I need you to think very carefully about everything you just told me."

Inuyasha shot him a dirty look, but nodded.

"What was Kagome wearing?" Miroku prodded, his eyes wide and innocent. Sango had told him under absolutely no circumstances was he allowed to outright tell Inuyasha or Kagome about the secret behind the text messages. Mostly, it was for their own good to figure it out. It would mean more if they came to realization themselves. Plus, it would be a lot funnier for Sango and Miroku. So, Sango had told him, they needed to very gently nudge them in the right direction, which is what the meeting was supposed to have been. Miroku desperately decided that it was time he was a little more forceful in his nudging.

Inuyasha thought about his question very carefully, because, let's face it, he was a guy. He remembered that the skirt was short... the shoes had heels on them that made Kagome's legs seem longer... "Uh, she was wearing a lot of green and white?" he said finally, more like it was a question than a statement.

"Right. Where did you run into her?"

"Just outside Cha Cha Hana..."

"What does her name begin with?"

"K— _ohhh_."

Miroku smiled at Inuyasha's flabbergasted face, excited to see the light dawn in his friend's eyes as everything (finally) fell into place. What Miroku did not expect was Inuyasha's next move to be lunging at him with his hands outstretched as if to strangle his best friend. "_You knew this whole time_?"


	17. Part 17

Short update, but important and (hopefully) cute/funny. Also entirely in text messages. Please let me know if it was too difficult to read. Pay attention to the signatures to keep track! These are just blocks of conversation, so it jumps around a bit. Because it's so short, I'll update with Part 18 within twenty-four hours, unless something comes up.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 17

* * *

_You owe me. _  
_- I._

_…_

_How do you figure? _  
_- K._

_…_

_You blew the meeting off! _  
_- I._

_…_

_According to you, you did the exact same thing! _  
- K.

_…_

_Yeah, but you admitted it first. _  
_- I._

_…_

_Okay, so let's say I go along with this. What do you want? _  
_- K._

_…_

_Just for you to answer some questions honestly. _  
_- I._

_…_

_I guess that would be okay. But I reserve the right to refuse. _  
_- K._

_…_

_Of course. Always. _  
_- I._

_Favorite color? _  
_- I._

_…_

_You could ask me anything, and that's what you start with? _  
_- K._

_…_

_Favorite color? _  
_- I._

_…_

_Fine, fine. Green. And blue. _  
_- K._

_…_

_Food? _  
_- I._

_…_

_Sushi? Maybe pizza. _  
_- K._

_…_

_Any siblings? _  
_- I._

_…_

_A brother. The neighbor boy is like a little brother, too. _  
_- K._

_…_

_Favorite sport? _  
_- I._

_…_

_Archery. _  
_- K._

_…_

_Favorite time of day? _  
_- I._

_…_

_Evening. _  
_- K._

_…_

_What do you want to be when you "grow up"? _  
_- I._

_…_

_What's the point of all this? _  
_- K._

_…_

_You promised to answer. Figured if we can't meet in person, we can get to know one another through texts. _  
_- I._

_…_

_Okaaay... A nurse. Maybe a doctor. A social worker? _  
_- K._

_…_

_You like to help people? _  
_- I._

_…_

_Yes. _  
_- K._

_…_

_Do you believe in unicorns? _  
_- I._

_…_

_Uhm, who doesn't? _  
_- K._

_…_

_(I worry about you sometimes.) What are you afraid of? _  
_- I._

_…_

_(You believe, too!) Not a big fan of bugs. When do I get a turn to ask you questions? _  
_- K._

_…_

_(I WAS _JOKING_.) Eventually, maybe. Blood type? _  
_- I._

_And then he fell down the stairs! On rollerskates! _  
_- K._

_…_

_HA! What a smart kid. _  
_- I._

_…_

_Don't be mean. He's very sweet and brave. I think my brother's just a bad influence on him. _  
_- K._

_…_

_Hey, can I ask you a question? _  
_- I_.

…

_Why not? You've asked me like 100 over the past three days. _  
_- K._

_…_

_Why did you respond to my first wrong number text? _  
_- I._

_…_

**[Please note that at least twenty minutes passed before Kagome responded.]**

_I guess I wanted an adventure, and that's about as good as it gets in modern day Tokyo. _  
_- K._

_…_

_Are you seeing anyone? _  
_- I._

_…_

_I have eyes. I see a lot of people. :] _  
_- K._

_…_

_Don't be a smartass. Are you DATING anyone? _  
_- I._

_…_

_No. Yes. Sort of? _  
_- K._

_…_

_What, is he imaginary or something? _  
_- I._

_…_

_NO! I like someone, but I don't know if we're technically dating. _  
_- K._

_…_

_Like him a lot? _  
_- I._

_…_

_I refuse to answer that one. _  
_- K._

_…_

_Trust me, you should answer. _  
_- I._

_…_

**[Please note that several hours passed before Kagome responded. Inuyasha received the message at three in the morning. He answered her back instantly.]**

_Yes. I really do. _  
_- K._

_…_

_That is exactly what I wanted to hear. _  
_- Inuyasha._

_…_

_Ohmygod. _  
_- Kagome._


	18. Part 18

3/19/11, 5pm: Proof that I love you guys: Just got home from an 8.5 hour standing shift at a bookstore with rotten customers, and I'm immediately sitting down to update this.

3/19/11, 10pm: WHY WON'T YOU LET ME UPLOAD? Argh!

3/20/11, 11pm: I might cry if this doesn't get resolved soon! Well, not really. But I'll feel even worse for letting y'all down.

3/22/11, 8:30am:** You and I all owe JenMari19 a huge, huge, huge thank you for helping me find a way to bypass the site's error message. **

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 18

* * *

"So," Kagome said slowly, her eyes glued to the tabletop and her cheeks tinted pink. Across the booth from her was Inuyasha, propping his chin up on one hand while drumming his fingers with the other.

"So?" he pushed when she failed to continue.

"Is this weird now?" Kagome asked, flicking her eyes up for a moment to meet his before casting them back down. "I mean, it's weird. We know each other more than I thought, and it's just... I don't know. I have no idea what I'm trying to say, other than this just seems a little weird."

To her surprise, Inuyasha laughed openly at her awkwardness. It wasn't a mean laugh, she was relieved to realize, just amused. "I had a few days longer than you to get used to the idea. I think it's a _good _thing. We don't have to waste all that time talking about random crap that we don't really care about just to get to know one another better."

Kagome rolled these words over in her mind before smiling slowly, nodding to herself. "Yeah, that makes sense." She bobbed her head and finally brought her gaze up to his face, and this time it stayed there. "So if we don't have to talk about 'random crap,' what should we talk about?"

After staring at each other blankly for several minutes trying to pull a topic from suddenly-empty minds, they both started laughing, and it cleared the air. With Kagome's eyes so bright and her cheeks pink from laughing so hard, Inuyasha was reminded just how _gosh darn cute _she was, and in typical male fashion, tried to impress her by telling her stories full of bravery and violence and adventure. Kagome poked holes in these and asked annoyingly practical questions like, "Why on earth would you do that?" "What did he say?" and "Isn't that illegal?" Inuyasha would temporarily deflate before puffing out his chest with a new tale full of daring. (These "tales" were almost always about Inuyasha defending some damsel in distress or weakling during his school days, usually by pummeling a bully or brute or gang member; Kagome found in endearing rather than threatening, mostly because she figured the bullies deserved it and Inuyasha was probably embellishing just a little.)

The waitress, a girl with a full bust, too many buttons unbuttoned, and a name tag that read 'Yura,' constantly stopped by to ask if they needed anything, but mostly her eyes were trained on Inuyasha, looking him up and down aggressively, and flatout ignoring Kagome. It took a long time before Inuyasha noticed, but when he finally did, he deliberately reached across the table to grab Kagome's hand in his own the next time Yura flounced by.

Yura shot Kagome a nasty look. Inuyasha grinned smuggly. Kagome thought she might die from blushing.

"Did you change my name in your phone address book?" Kagome asked after this happened to change the subject, retracting her hand from his and instead grabbing for Inuyasha's phone with such familiarity that Inuyasha floundered for a second.

"No, you're still just listed as 'K.'," he said finally, once her question registered in his head. He worked hard to get rid of the look of wonder he was sure he was sending her way. Truthfully, it bugged him a little how much he liked this girl. Two years of dating Kikyou, and he'd never had this warm of feelings for the ice queen. Granted, they'd fought as much as they'd done anything else. "I don't know if I'll ever get over it being Miroku's phone number. Speaking of, don't you normally get to keep your old number even if you buy a used phone? How'd you end up with Miroku's?"

Kagome shrugged. "I never had a cell phone before this," she admitted.

"Wait," he said, holding up his hands like a traffic conductor trying to stop a car speeding toward him. He suddenly looked nervous. "How old are you?"

"Eighteen next month," Kagome said, laughing and waving his question away. "...Wait, how old are _you_?"

"Eighteen, but nineteen soon."

"Oh, thank god," they both said at once as it dawned on them that they probably should have established ages early on.

"How old is Sesshoumaru?" she asked suddenly.

"Twenty-eight," Inuyasha replied. "Why? You like older men?" (He was teasing; there was no way anyone could ever be attracted to Sesshoumaru. Ever. Except Kagura, but Kagura was crazy, so she clearly didn't count.) "Don't tell me you were using me this whole time to get to my step-brother!"

Kagome let an embarrassed laugh escape her throat. "Well, he _is _pretty."

"Fluffy?" Inuyasha asked incredulously, his confidence shifting.

"_Fluffy_?" Kagome echoed, her eyes wide.

"Long story. Involved a lot of alcohol and a pink boa. Don't worry, I have pictures."

Suddenly, there was a shadow looming over their table. "Anything else?" Yura sneered, tossing her short, black hair with a huff. Inuyasha and Kagome looked around and realized they were the last people in the cafe; all the other customers had paid and left, and the employees were stacking chairs on the tables. Kagome, profusely apologizing, and Inuyasha, refusing to apologize, took care of the bill (Inuyasha insisted on paying, but Kagome insisted on splitting the check; Kagome, of course, won), and took off. Out on the sidewalk, the two began walking slowly in the direction of the closest train station, where they would part for the night.

"So," Kagome began again, tentatively linking her hand with his. She relaxed when he tightened his fingers around her own. "When we celebrate our anniversary in the future, do we celebrate the first date? Or, well, was this the first date, because the other two were complete accidents? Or do we celebrate the first time we ran into each other at Miroku's shop or the first time you texted me?"

Inuyasha groaned, only half good-naturedly. "Don't tell me you're one of those girls who's obsessed with anniversaries, like year anniversaries, month-aversaries, _week_-aversaries."

"Of course not!" (Read: yes.)

"And you're not going to be nit-picky about gifts, right?"

"No..." (Read: yes.) "Except, of course, the big ones."

"The big ones?" Inuyasha repeated, looking at her from the corner of his eye. She was looking straight ahead, smiling faintly. This did not calm his sudden fear.

"Year anniversaries and birthdays."

"Well, I can see us celebrating your birthday since it's apparently next month, but who says we'll still be together in a year? Don't get clingy on me now."

Kagome frowned and bumped her shoulder into his side harshly. Inuyasha laughed and pretended to be hurt, unlinking their hands to clasp his side with an exaggerated groan.

"You're stuck with me," Kagome told him warningly, planting her fists on her hips with a mock-serious look.

Somehow, Inuyasha thought, he was okay with that.


	19. Part 19

**Important:** I'm writing a sequel. _Wrong Number Text _was about getting them together; the sequel would be about what happens afterwards, when Kagome goes to college and Inuyasha decides to step up in the family company.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 19

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kagome asked uncertainly, peering up at Inuyasha through her bangs with a troubled look on her face.

"I got the impression you _liked_ meddling," Inuyasha told her.

"Well, I do. But I'm also a little afraid of Sango; if she finds out we decided to play matchmaker…"

Inuyasha made a big show of rolling his eyes and puffing out his chest, silently telling her that he would never be afraid of Sango, or anyone else for that matter. After this display, he reached down and grabbed her hand firmly in his own, ignoring the dirty looks of some of the older, more conservative people (mostly parents) walking around them at the mouth of the amusement park. "I'm going to be honest with you," he warned his girlfriend (girlfriend!). "I don't actually care if Sango and Miroku get together. I just want to get back at them for messing with us."

"They were only trying to help," Kagome scolded. She pulled his hand closer, though, so he knew he wasn't in trouble with her yet.

"Well, they did an awful job of it. We figured it out on our own!"

Even Kagome had to scoff at that. She was still reeling from how dense she had been. If she had taken just a minute to connect the dots, put the pieces of the puzzle together, and all those other clichés, she would have been able to have at least _considered_ the possibility that 'I.' was Inuyasha. Instead, she'd spent way too much time fantasizing about knights and unicorns. Ugh. Now, Kagome tugged Inuyasha in the direction of the crowds where hundreds of people were filing into the amusement park for a day of summer fun. In the distance, she could just pick out a girl with a ponytail in a pink t-shirt and a taller boy wearing, of all colors, purple. Even from this far away, Kagome decided that the two looked like a cute couple.

Not as great as she and Inuyasha. But still pretty good.

Feeling encouraged, Kagome settled mentally into the matchmaker role. "The hard part is already done for us. They know each other, and they like each other. All that's left is to convince them to make it official."

"I still think Sango can do better," Inuyasha muttered.

Kagome made a dramatic face and noise in the back of her throat, turning to her boyfriend (boyfriend!) with a scolding gesture. "Inuyasha! Miroku's your best friend!"

"What? He's a pervert!"

"He," Kagome pointed out defensively, "is an intelligent, charming, handsome young man."

"A _pervert_," Inuyasha stressed, turning wide, serious eyes on his girlfriend (girlfriend!).

"Fine, a pervert," Kagome conceded. "But an intelligent, charming, handsome pervert."

Inuyasha was laughing so hard that Kagome had to continually dig her elbow into his side to make him shut up as they finally reached Sango and Miroku. The other "couple" had obviously just finished a fight, seeing as Sango was bright red with her arms crossed tightly over her chest and Miroku was tenderly holding his cheek (also red, but not from anger or embarrassment), and they luckily missed how amused Inuyasha was.

"Hi, guys," Kagome greeted them cheerily. While the other three were in t-shirts and jeans, Kagome was wearing a bright yellow sundress with a blue cardigan, looking like the embodiment of summer. She clearly hadn't thought it through, considering they would be riding roller coasters and Ferris Wheels within half an hour.

_("I say we duct tape your skirt to your legs," Inuyasha would soon suggest stubbornly as the group looked up at a roller coaster blurring by overhead. Everyone on the ride had smartly decided to wear pants, so no Miroku-like person, or Miroku himself, could look up their skirts. Not that he didn't check for the opportunity anyway._

_"Inuyasha," Kagome admonished. Her eyes were a little downcast, and she was blushing faintly from the embarrassment of her mistake, but she forced a determined smile on her face. "This just means we'll have to do other things, like eating cotton candy and playing the games. I bet I could win at the archery booth!"_

_"That's the spirit!" Sango said, swinging an arm around her best friend and hugging her to her side._

_"I think you should hug her tighter. Maybe rub her back gently," Miroku said. His voice was far too appreciative._

_Both girls hit him.)_

"Hey, Kagome," Sango greeted in the present at the entrance, her angry expression shifting at the sight of the petite girl. "How's it feel to be eighteen?"

"Not very different," Kagome admitted, "But I can't wait for the party you guys are throwing me this weekend." Saying that reminded her that she and Inuyasha had been together for over a month now. Probably due to how they originally met, the two texted each other constantly when not in each other's company. Fortunately, they hadn't gotten sick of one another yet, because their phone conversations were completely different from how they talked in person. Sometimes, it was still like they were two strangers bickering over texts than a couple who had just spent the hour before smooching in the park.

"You're going to love my gift," the brunette said smugly. She then gave Inuyasha a playfully challenging look as if to say, 'I dare you to beat me on this one.'

"Not as much as mine," Miroku surprised everyone by saying.

"Miroku, I've told you before and I'll tell you again, you are not allowed to do an exorcism on my home." Kagome wagged her finger at him. "I live at a shrine. Having spirits is part of the draw."

Miroku wilted.

"You're so cheap," Inuyasha said snottily. "You just want to do an exorcism, because it doesn't cost anything."

"I don't care about the cost!" Kagome protested. "As long as it comes from the heart."

"So if I were to build you something out of popsicle sticks…"

"I would love it," Kagome said firmly. "You know, as long as you put in time and effort and rinsed your spit off of them."

"Alright, love birds," Sango said, purposely stepping between the two and then linking her arm with Kagome's. "Let's go have some fun!"

Hours later, Inuyasha and Kagome were walking through the many booths. Kagome was happily eating something unhealthy on a stick while Inuyasha lugged around a giant white stuffed dog. If anyone asked, he'd say he'd won it for her… but really, Kagome had won it for herself with a bow and arrow at the archery booth. She'd offered it to Inuyasha, but he'd refused it in a macho kind of way. Kagome shrugged it off, secretly happy that she got to keep it. Although she was a cat person, she thought dogs were adorable, too.

"Where do you think they are?" she asked around a mouthful of food.

"Miroku and Sango? Probably on the biggest roller coaster."

"Don't pout," Kagome said apologetically. "I promise we'll come back next week, and we can ride all the rides then. Twice. Plus, I told you to go ride the roller coaster with them!"

"Yes, but you didn't mean it," Inuyasha said wisely. "If I'd abandoned you alone at the amusement park, I never would have heard the end of it."

Kagome smiled smugly around her food-on-a-stick, but didn't say anything.

"I bet they're on this one," Inuyasha said as they came to stand in front of the largest, scariest, craziest roller coaster.

"Oh! Look, they have monitors set up where you can see pictures taken of the passengers," Kagome said eagerly, tossing her empty stick in a nearby trashcan and grabbing Inuyasha's hand. She yanked him in the direction of said monitors, the stuffed dog flying behind him. Once there, they carefully checked all the screens, looking for Sango's tell-tale ponytail and Miroku's purple shirt.

Then they spotted them.

"Oh, my god," Kagome said faintly, a crazed grin growing quickly on her face.

"Are they…?" Inuyasha asked, leaning forward and squinting at the pixilated screen in disbelief.

"They're kissing!"


	20. Part 20: An Epilogue

Enjoy this **last** chapter of _Wrong Number Text_.

The sequel, _Life Goes On_, has already begun. Please continue the story there.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Wrong Number Text

Part 20

An Epilogue

* * *

Inuyasha barely dodged the french fry thrown at him from across the booth. In retaliation, he hurled a crumpled-up wrapper at Miroku's head, which bounced off harmlessly.

"Hey!" Miroku protested with a big show of rubbing his temple as if he'd been hit with something heavy and solid. When no one bought it, he leaned back into the padded seat and slurped noisily from his straw. "I can't believe you decided to go to a fast food restaurant rather than some fancy place, Kagome," he told the blue-eyed girl, who was delicately eating her own burger.

"I'm not a fancy restaurant kind of girl," Kagome responded honestly. "I can rough it!"

"Then we're going camping," Inuyasha said immediately.

"Are you really into nature?"

Inuyasha considered Sango's question for a moment, thoughtfully sipping his own drink. "Yeah, I guess. I love climbing trees and sleeping under the stars and stuff."

"Not to be a spoil sport or anything, but you realize I only just turned eighteen and still live at home with my mother, right?" Kagome, for once in her life, tried to be practical. A little shiver raced up her spine at the idea of being free for an entire night, out in the dark woods with her boyfriend.

Sango laughed openly at her best friend's question. "Kagome, we'll be done with school in a couple of weeks, and even so, I can totally see your mom _encouraging _you to go into the woods and have an adventure. She'd probably do your laundry and pack your bag for you!"

Kagome thought about it before grudgingly bobbing her head in affirmation, sticking a french fry into a small heap of ketchup. "Okay, that's true. I can see it, too."

"Let's make a weekend of it!" Miroku exclaimed, continuing to talk even as his hand sneakily went for Sango's thigh under the tabletop. "You two girls can bring your brothers and that little neighbor boy, Shippou, and we can go camping for the weekend to celebrate finishing up school!" Barely had he finished when Sango's fist collided not-so-playfully with his jaw.

"Just because we're dating doesn't mean you can feel me up inappropriately in public," she warned, her eyes flashing.

"So I can feel you up inappropriately in private?" Miroku translated hopefully.

Sango dug her elbow harshly into his ribs. "That joke is so played out. …But maybe."

"Kagome," Inuyasha said around his straw. "You have ketchup on your lip."

"See? Now that joke is played out." Kagome jabbed a finger in Inuyasha's direction. "Next, he'll pretend to kiss away the so-called ketchup, which isn't really there, just so that he has an excuse to kiss me!"

"No, actually, you really have ketchup on your face," he grumbled lowly, reaching out to swipe his thumb across the corner of her mouth. He then held his hand up to show her the smear of red. Before anyone could say anything, especially Kagome (whose cheeks were burning), he popped his thumb into his mouth to suck the ketchup off. Immediately, his eyes widened at how that probably looked to everyone, and the tips of his ears turned pink where they poked out through his long, dark hair.

Miroku chortled, and even Sango had to stifle a laugh at Kagome and Inuyasha's blushing faces as they both turned their eyes anywhere but on each other. It wasn't fair that the two of them were so shy around each other, terrible with public displays of affection more than handholding, yet she had to constantly fend off Miroku's wandering hands! Gently, trying to save them from the awkwardness of the situation (and Miroku's howling laughter wasn't helping), Sango said, "Why don't we head back to your place and do presents, eh Kagome?" She started collecting all of their trash to toss.

"Sure, that sounds nice," Kagome agreed immediately, finally meeting someone's eyes— Sango's, of course, she was still too embarrassed from what she'd said to Inuyasha to look at him directly yet.

"Yeah." Miroku wiped a tear of mirth from the corner of his eye with the back of his finger, still chuckling every few seconds. "And Inuyasha can finally meet your mom officially!"

"Wait! What? No!" Inuyasha interjected, panicking.

"Oh, calm down, my mom's going to love you." Kagome patted his hand, still avoiding eye contact. "You already met Souta, and he practically worships the ground you walk on. The hardest one to win over will be Grandfather. He thinks all boys are demons."

The group scooted out of booth and took their trays to the trash receptacle to dump their wrappers. On the way out the door, Inuyasha quietly grabbed Kagome around the wrist and tugged on her, effectively allowing Miroku and Sango to get ahead of them.

"What is it?" Kagome asked, turning to face him and looking up, her eyes focused on his nose, making her go just slightly crossed eyed in her attempt to keep from looking higher. After a few seconds, she noticed how fidgety he was, so she glanced up and saw that he was staring fixedly at a point over her shoulder, not meeting her eyes either. She tapped a finger on his chin until he finally looked at her.

"You didn't… that thing with the ketchup, you don't think that I didn't… that I don't _want _to kiss you, right?" he asked. His voice was very gruff, which Kagome was starting to notice it was whenever he was trying to cover an emotion he didn't agree with, like fear or nervousness.

Inuyasha may have been able to face down any big, hulking bully in school or a criminal on the streets (Wasn't it mentioned before? He once chased down a purse snatcher and pummeled the guy into the concrete!), but this tiny girl made him more anxious than he'd ever been before.

Thankfully, Kagome smiled up at him and to put his fears truly to rest, she swiftly stood up on her tip-toes and pressed her lips to his, silencing all the rest of his doubts.

"Now," she said, as she pulled away, "there will be plenty of time for kissing later. I want my presents!"

* * *

Later that night, as the group lounged in her family's living room, Kagome sighed happily. She was on the floor, her back pressed against Inuyasha's legs while he sat on the couch next to Souta, who had nodded off after a sugar crash. (The boy had eaten half the cake, easily, because of some dare from Kohaku and Shippou, who had gone home an hour before.) There was a small mountain of loot on the carpet— of clothes and jewelry and books and manga. Leaning against the wall was a new bow and arrow set for her to use in archery club; these were from Inuyasha, who insisted that weapons _were_ a romantic gift, because they meant Kagome could protect herself, etc. (He'd been bewildered when Miroku and Sango had given him weird looks, but Kagome had squealed excitedly, which was all that truly mattered.)

Before anyone could say anything to disrupt the nice lull after the festivities, Kagome's phone let out a cheerful, trilling note from where it sat innocently on the table. "Probably yet another birthday well-wisher," Sango mumbled, her hand settled on her stomach as if fondly remembering the cake.

"Yeah, you'll have to explain to me who Kouga and Hojo are, again," Inuyasha muttered darkly, bending forward, so that his face was hanging upside down in front of Kagome's.

She pushed him away and reached for her phone. After opening the message and reading it silently, she adopted a confused expression.

"Who is it?" Miroku asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know, it's a wrong number text," Kagome mumbled thoughtfully, her eyes still glued to the screen. "Think I should respond?"

"NO!" everyone shouted simultaneously, lunging for the phone.

**THE END  
However, their story will continue in the soon-to-be-released _Life Goes On_ sequel drabble collection. Soon, on an internet near you. ;] (Now posted!)  
**


End file.
